Trying to call coyotes

[Aspp]

So I borrowed an electronic game call from my cousin, he gave me a few pointers then said "Good luck!".
Did my first set night before last, I could hear the dogs calling Each other in the brush, so I started out with a dying rabbit. As soon as I lit it off everything went silent. I was about 150yds from the pile of brush I had the call in, and a good visual range (300yds to brush line). Sat there for 1.5 hours, and never had anything come in. No visitors at all.
Had too much going on yesterday to mess with the call, but did see a dog at about 700yds while feeding cows. No chance with the 223 and little 36gr Barnes bullets.
Normally I carry 2 rifles, a close range (223 or 6.6) and a long Range bolt gun (30-06 usually). But I am expecting my wife to go into labor at any time, and its really hard to hide 2 long guns in a small pickup, so I'm only packing the 223.
So this morning I go out and feed cows, then did another setup with the call. I'm in an area that I see dogs in 4 or more days every week. I can normally get one or two a week in these big farm fields. I sat for 1 hour and not a single dog showed up. Damn.
Well, I have to go work on one of the generators on the other side of the ranch, so I pack up and head that way. Its about 4 miles from the farm fields to the well and generator that needs the work so I just toss the rifle on the passenger seat and get to driving. About 1/2 mile from where I was calling I jump 3 dogs that were basking in the sun on a ridge that over looks the farm fields I was just in. ****! The scramble is on! All 3 dogs do 0 to 60 times that would do a Porsche proud. 2 headed into some thick brush but the other ran up the road, when I whistled he stopped and turned broad side to me, 215yds. Bang! Lots of yelping and spinning before he fell over dead.

My conclusion is that the call (which is a cheap one) is not realistic enough or I am being busted in some other way. As far as I know, I am the only person trying to call yotes anywhere in the area around the ranch. I am going to go try it one more time on a river piece that we have had luck calling dogs before (FoxPro call and jittering decoy), before I totally give up on this thing. But hopes are not high.

 

[FrankT]

Nice dog! good shot at that distance. I find if they are not there in 30 min or less they are not coming and change the setup to a different spot.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Also start the call out very quiet just barely enough for you to hear. Most people call too loud.

 

[Wildfowler]

Please. others with experience please share your tips and experiences.

Just bought my first e-caller today.

 

[rgilbert]

As Lawman said start out low volume watch the wind and sun directions. I watched a guy call in a yote one day that he never saw due to getting busted by the suns reflection off of his rifle. I was sitting out about 100 yards to the left of him and could see the dog, but he could not. I kept waiting for him to shoot and the dog finally ran off. When I looked in his direction I could clearly see him and the reflection. And sometimes they will just not cooperate with being shot! LOL

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

Hunting coyotes in the desert down by big bend helped me a ton. I would set my call on the side of a small hill and then go set up on the next hill. Due to the wide open spaces I could see the yotes coming a long way off. They would almost always circle the call working their way in with smaller and smaller circles. Of course there were some that just ran straight in. For coyotes Ill call 15min and may stay to 20min tops. For cat's 30min to an hour. You can move just a few hundred yards and set up the next stand. Camo and scent are important. I store my foxpro in my bird bag so it has the smell of dove and quail. I used to use hand and mouth calls but then they are focused on you. With the e caller out about 100 yards they are focused on it.

In my opinion it's harder to hunt them now. Everybody gets a e-caller and educates them nowadays.

 

[pruhdlr]

Between deer seasons here in NW Fla now. A buddy and I went out last PM with our thermals and put a hurtin' on three yotes,one a 30lb male. The air was so damned thick it was like rain. We were sittin' for hogs and did not want to move our location. By the time we got to tracking the blood,two hours later,the heavy dew(mist) had washed it away. One he hit and one that I hit could not be found. We have an abundance of yotes at my club although it does not seem to effect the deer herd much.

One piece of advice that was given to me by a long time yote hunter in Maine was ....." You can fool a coyotes ears with calls,and you can fool their eyes with camo,but a yote ALWAYS believes his nose."

Good Huntin' --- pruhdlr

 

[Harris hawker]

Get the I hunt app and a speaker for your smart phone.
I have called Harris hawks and fox to my car with it.
I plug it into a speaker in my car and blast it, works all the time.

 

[FrankT]

I have the Hunting Calls on my android, free and has predator, deer, turkey, all pretty good!

 

[pruhdlr]

VOLUME ??????.......

I have an older Fox Pro caller w/o remote. I have had this caller for almost 20 years now. I got it before there was a such thing as a remote. It has literally hundreds of hours worth of use on it. It took the place of an older Johnny Stewart cassette type with the motor drive and the little belts. I have called all types of terrain with this caller except high/low desert.

From my experiences, the volume used(especially the initial volume) has to be evaluated with several different things in mind. 1. Hills/mountains 2. thickness of the undergrowth..3. the density and height of the trees in the area. 4. will you be calling a river/creek bottom 5. the height your caller is above the called area. 6. will you be calling to yotes that you already know their general location. 7. is the air dry and thin or wet and thick. 8. a roadway with brush on both sides(tunnel)

Also allow me to say that starting at a lower volume is better than starting at a higher volume. You can always turn it up.....however.....you can never "un-ring the bell". I have called 50+ acre clear cuts where I knew the yotes were at the back of the cut. From my raised location I started with med/loud volume. Calling the dense spruce/fir forests of Maine from a elevated bear stand I would start off with low volume.

In my experiences hanging out and working with the real life trained Maine woodsmen,the old time trappers,the yote and cat callers from back in the day that you made your own call,or the call was handed down from father to son,I feel that I have learned some valuable lessons. They taught me to picture in my mind how a bobcat,fox,or coyote hunts. How they will initially grab their target anywhere they can grab them before they work their way up to the neck. The rabbit initially does some squalling. Then when the perfect hold is put on the neck the sound pretty much stops. The predator wants to quiet the target ASAP because he is in direct competition with other predators. Especially in areas with a dense population of coyotes. Yotes are like a dog with a bone that every other dog wants. The coyote with a rabbit will also move the kill as fast as possible before he starts to eat it.....for the same reason. The yote knows the moment that he hears the sound,how far off that sound is,and more importantly,how loud it shold be AT THAT DISTANCE.

My stand takes about 15-20 minutes. During that time I produce a sound for only 5-8 minutes at different intervals. During a predator seminar that I attended in Maine,I had a state biologist tell me that a coyote could pinpoint within a 10yd X 10yd square location,where a dying rabbit sound was coming from,at the distance of 1/2 mile. Soooooo......even if the sound of the dying rabbit stops the yote already has the source committed to memory. Given the volume of your call,picture how long it takes a coyote to cover that distance. A cat is completely different. I have watched a bobcat stalk thru a clear cut towards my location. It took one 45 minutes to cover 250yds. ---- pruhdlr

 

[Aspp]

Thanks for the imput guys, I might be starting the call to loud. I ty to start it at about the same volume as a rabbit makes, I have heard dying rabbits a bunch of times thanks to all the working dogs I jave been around.

 

[pruhdlr]

Aspp, I have inadvertently had my volume up tooooo loud when I turned my unit on.......and killed a yote. Why...How...???

The wind was blowing in my face at a sustained 10kts or so if that is what made a difference. We need all to also remember that no matter what we do or how we do it...the coyotes just simply might have another "agenda".

I have watched(multiple times)a coyote step out into the roadway that I was calling and simply stand there and look. Wind was right,I was in camo with no movement,volume was right,etc,etc,etc. After a long look they simply turned and slowly walked away from me down the road.

I had a old yote caller tell me at one point that like a human,if a coyote has a full belly,he has no need,or want,to chase anything. Of course,unless this is a female with a den full of pups. Also during the breeding season(Mar-Apr in Maine)your supply of callable yotes has been diminished because for several weeks the females are focused on their young and defending them from all other predators...AND...the male coyotes. --- pruhdlr

 

[Aspp]

Well, I ran the flextone call last night and this morning. Only thing that came in was some crows (we have quite a few), 3 immature bald eagles, and a golden eagle. The immature baldies were very confused and not happy with my deception, they did a bunch of low passes at the call before circling over head for about an hour. I shot a couple squirrels as an appology before I left, they were rather happy for that!
No one got close enough for a picture, a little camera shy.

 

[pruhdlr]

Something else that a ol' time guide and predator caller taught me. Don't ever say that they did not come. Simply say that you never saw them.

I have seen fresh bobcat,coyote,and fisher tracks in the snow that were as close as 30yds to my ass marks in the snow. --- pruhdlr

 

[Guess]

Okay you have a lot of good advice here. with some good rules to follow. Here's the problem, predators don't follow the rules. Let me start by saying I've been calling predators over 30 years now. I don't know it all and will never know it all and neither will anyone else.
There are general guidelines that should be followed.

Wind direction- personally I like wind in my face or a good crosswind coming from the area I expect to see them come from.
stealth slip in quietly.

use distress sounds. Any distress you like don't worry about whether or not it is a species you have or don't have. If they are on they will come they don't know you don't have jackalopes in your area.

variables: you have to remember there are many variables in every calling situation.

Now I will address volume. You will get as many answers on this one as there are people in the world. here are my thoughts based on experience. If your are 20 yards from where you think they are, you might want to start at a low volume or with lip squeaks. if you are 150 yards start at a higher volume, but probably not highest. you also have to consider the wind speed and brush density. I once was field testing a new model of foxpro{I"m FOXPRO fieldstaff for those that didn't know that} I was using another brand of electronic decoy. we didn't know at the time that the frequency would interfere with the remote. we were set up less than 20 yards from an active den. The call came on at full volume and I couldn't turn it down a coyote came in so fast Michelle almost couldn't get on it. it will be the 4th coyote killed in this video

Think about this for a minute. If you grab a bunny by his testicles is he gonna start screaming at a whisper or is he gonna scream his butt off! you bet he's gonna scream at top volume. Now here's the kicker and the reason I think you will see coyotes go the other way at times and it is often blamed on volume or the fact that you may have gotten busted. Some coyotes are just plain shy and may hunt by scent or sight instead of hearing. In reality they don't hunt by any ONE sense. Another thing to consider is we don't really know why they respond at all times. It may be food, territorial response or curiosity etc. Individual personality also plays a part in how or why they respond Think about it. Say he's not a fighter and goes running in to a rabbit in distress and gets his butt kicked by a top dog. Guess what? he's gonna get "call shy" and hunt by means other than his ears eventually. You will hear lots of people use the word "educated" I prefer the term conditioned response.

shinny stuff: I've heard that all my hunting career, and yes I'm sure it plays a part at times. Next time your out and about climb on the highest point you can find on a sunny day and look around. literally count how many shinny objects you see. I once called in a coyote in the day time, in the middle of an open field with no cover wearing a white tee shirt. Guess what his main food source was? really guess, I'll give the answer later.

Now I'm not saying throw all this advice to the wind. Use good common sense and good hunting practices. No One can call one every time, NO ONE! some days they bite and some they don't. I've hunted with the best predator Hunters in the world and we all have bad days. Just remember NO SET RULES, JUST GUIDELINES.

use advice from guys that have been calling a long time. Try it in the field, weed out the crap and develop your own style and skill. It wont happen overnight and nothing you can buy will make you a better hunter. A good hunter uses tools to help him be more successful.

You seem to be on the right track.

 

[Guess]

"Something else that a ol' time guide and predator caller taught me. Don't ever say that they did not come. Simply say that you never saw them.

I have seen fresh bobcat,coyote,and fisher tracks in the snow that were as close as 30yds to my ass marks in the snow. --- pruhdlr"

That is exactly right. I've watched people calling from a distance and saw lots of coyotes they didn't know where there. No matter how well you think your stand is you will give up at least one advantage on nearly every stand.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

If your calling in crows and eagles then your doing good. I always love it when the crows show up. Coyotes usually feel safer and kick it into high gear.

 

[pruhdlr]

What is really fun is to sneek into an area,start calling,and have a black bear show up. They tend to come in rather fast. They are not running however they are usually at a fast walk. Remember......I have the very old Fox Pro......NO REMOTE.....it sits on the ground right beside me. --- pruhdlr

 

[FrankT]

Be sure to put "sow in heat" on your boots when calling hogs, for that extra special thrill!

 

[Guess]

prudlr, I have never had the opportunity to call bears. That would be awesome!